Budget carriers slowly start to resume international flights

An Air Seoul aircraft [AIR SEOUL]

Local budget carriers are resuming international flights as the government prepares for a new "With Corona" scheme expected to be introduced at the beginning of November.

Air Seoul, which is 100 percent owned by Asiana Airlines, said Tuesday it will resume flights to Guam starting Dec. 23. The resumption comes about 660 days after the carrier halted the route on Feb. 29 last year amid the pandemic.

There will be two flights connecting Incheon and Guam each week. The flights will leave Incheon at 7 p.m. every Thursday and Sunday.

Air Seoul said it plans to gradually resume international flights to other major tourist destinations including Saipan.

“People’s travel sentiment has been slowly recovering thanks to the ‘living with Corona policy,” said an Air Seoul spokesperson. “We’ve been preparing to resume international routes, mostly to countries that the government has established a travel bubble with."

On Tuesday, Jeju Air also announced that it will resume charter flights connecting Incheon and Chiang Mai, Thailand, starting Nov. 5. This comes after the Thai government announced that it would ease entry regulations and exempt people from quarantine as long as they are fully vaccinated starting November.

The once-a-week service will leave Incheon at 6 p.m. every Friday.

Jeju Air said it is planning to increase routes connecting Incheon and other Thai cities like Bangkok within the year.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]